Stranded motorists start picking up cars from tow yards

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - Motorists who were stranded in the snowstorm are still picking up their cars from tow yards and complaining about having to pay fees. But there may be help for some drivers who had to pay.

Tram Phan had to pay $135 after her car was towed to a lot.

"I don't think that's right. I think the governor said something about being able to help with that," she told Channel 2’s Tom Jones.

Phan was talking about the state offering to pay towing fees for people whose cars were stranded on roads after Tuesday's storm.

But the cars had to have been towed before 9 p.m. Thursday. Phan's car was removed Friday morning.

Cosmo Taylor also arrived at the same lot to pick up his car after he abandoned it on Interstate 75 Tuesday. He also found out he had to pay.

"So now they're telling me I have to pay like a 100-and-something dollars to get my car. Well, I don't have the money to get it," he said.

Taylor arrived to pick up his car Friday morning to find it was gone. So that means he missed the deadline as well.

There may be a way for Phan and Taylor to get reimbursed. During an afternoon news conference, Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety Col. Mark McDonough said there is a mechanism for people who had to pay because they missed the deadline.

"If they get their car and they have to pay for it we're doing a mechanism, providing a mechanism that we can rectify that,"McDonough said.

You can fill out a reimbursement form found on the Georgia Department of Public Safety website and apply to get your money back.

Phan said there shouldn't have even been a deadline because of how difficult it is to get around without a car.

"I finally was able to get my mother-in-law came over today and put me on the train station so i could get there by train," she said.

The reimbursement is only for cars that were towed from certain locations around the metro area.